1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copy machine, a printer, a facsimile, a multi-functional peripheral having functions of these apparatuses, or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional image forming apparatus such as a copy machine, a printer, or the like, for the purpose of achieving size reduction of the apparatus, a paper conveying path is often provided in the vertical direction in the vicinity of a side surface of the apparatus. In the conveying path provided in the vertical direction, a transfer roller pair for transferring an image onto a paper sheet is disposed, and one of rollers of this transfer roller pair, a conveying guide surface, and so on are provided in a unitized form in a cover member. When an operation such as clearing of a jam or maintenance is performed, in a case where the cover member is structured to be opened and closed from the side surface of a main body of the apparatus, the conveying path is exposed in a wide area, and thus the operation such as clearing of a jam or maintenance can be facilitated.
There has been disclosed a related art in which a cover member is opened and closed from a side surface of an apparatus main body. An image forming apparatus according to this related art includes, as a transfer roller pair, a transfer roller and a photosensitive drum that is in press-contact with the transfer roller. The transfer roller is provided in a cover member that is openable and closable with respect to the apparatus main body. Furthermore, the transfer roller includes a bearing member that rotatably supports a rotary shaft, a spring member that presses the bearing member to the side of the photosensitive drum, and a bearing holder. The bearing holder houses the bearing member by covering it from outside and supports the bearing member so that it is movable within a space in which it is housed in an open/close direction of the cover member and in a direction perpendicular to the open/close direction. The photosensitive drum, on the other hand, is provided in the apparatus main body. In the apparatus main body, in addition to the photosensitive drum, a bearing guide portion is provided. The bearing guide portion extends in the direction of a rotation center of the photosensitive drum and has a guide groove in which the rotary shaft of the transfer roller is to be fitted. When the cover member is closed with respect to the apparatus main body, the bearing member of the transfer roller moves within the housing space in the bearing holder, so that the rotary shaft of the transfer roller comes to be properly opposed to the guide groove in the apparatus main body and is fitted in the guide groove. As a result of this, the transfer roller forms a nip portion with respect to the photosensitive drum, where a recording medium can be conveyed in a state of being nipped between the transfer roller and the photosensitive drum.
The image forming apparatus of the above-described related art, however, has presented a problem that the bearing member and the bearing holder that movably supports the bearing member are constituent components having complicated configurations, respectively. Particularly, the configuration of the bearing holder is so complicated that difficulty is involved in integrating the bearing holder with the cover member, leading to an increase in the number of components used and thus resulting in a cost increase.